A TEACHING AND RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has formed the Environmental and Climate Science Group, which builds on the scholarly work of GVSU faculty members to advance solutions to regional and global problems.

Among the key imperatives for this specialized group: What do students need to navigate the complex challenges brought on by climate change? How can Grand Valley help the people of Michigan and other Great Lakes states to restore and preserve freshwater resources?

Students will benefit from the collaborative by developing the knowledge and skills to solve both the scientific and social justice challenges their generation faces, said CLAS Dean Jennifer Drake.

"This collaborative creates increased capacity for community partnerships, innovative curriculum design and the expansion of high-impact experiences for students," Drake said.

A central component of this group is the hiring of a cluster of faculty members with expertise in environmental and aquatic restoration and sustainability, Drake said. This cluster drawing from multiple disciplines across the natural and social sciences will focus on water systems and water resources.

These new faculty members will also continue with the CLAS commitment to providing high-impact learning experiences for students in the laboratory, the field and within the community, Drake said. 

A NETWORK TO EXPAND EXPERTISE THROUGHOUT THE COMMUNITY

When Lioubimtseva discusses climate change education and climate solutions, she often refers to the need for planning ahead climate change resiliency, adaptation and mitigation at a community level. 

"Community adaptation planning to inevitable climate impacts, mindfully integrated with climate change mitigation, is crucial for our thriving, not just surviving, and this mindset is essential for young people to succeed in their future lives," Lioubimtseva said.

A network she and CLAS colleagues launched in 2018 connects scholars, students, K-12 educators and community members for a solutions-oriented approach to climate change education.

The GVSU Climate Change Education Solutions Network provides that education on multiple fronts, including an annual summit. Another program is an online teaching and learning community, Michigan Resources on Climate and Land Change Education (MiRCLE), which is sponsored by the Michigan Space Grant Consortium.

Lioubimtseva said she recognized the need to provide climate change educational resources to K-12 teachers when she was invited to speak in the classrooms of her own children.

One of the advisors for MiRCLE is Karina White, a Jenison High School teacher who taught Lioubimtseva's children. White, who teaches biology and AP environmental science, said MiRCLE provides crucial access to experts with deeper knowledge about the environment and climate change to enhance educators' professional development and what they can bring to the classroom.

And high school students are just as engaged with climate change issues as college students are, White said.

"The most hopeful I am about the future of the planet is when I am in my AP environmental science class with my students. Those students have this purity of not having the baggage of the adult consumer lifestyle that people get into and don't know how to get out of," said White, who recently earned a master's degree in biology at GVSU.

Climate change resiliency was also the focus of a recent documentary released under the umbrella of the GVSU Climate Change Education Solutions Network. "Climate Sisu: the stories of climate resilience from Northern Michigan” is a production involving Grand Valley faculty and recent alumni that tells stories from Michigan residents with the message that people can build better futures even if the crisis feels overwhelming, said Lioubimtseva, who was one of the film's producers.

Another of the film's producers, Leah Anderson ’20, started working with Lioubimtseva in 2019 as the network was getting off the ground. 

"Initially what attracted me to this was working with Elena because I loved her classes and I knew that she was very passionate about the work that she does, and very knowledgeable," Anderson said. "I felt with her network, I could grow so much as a student and also contribute to the network."

Anderson is now pursuing a master's degree in Colorado in environmental policy. Her academic path started with being undecided as a major at GVSU, then taking classes that sparked her interest in environmental science and climate change education.

She graduated with a double major in geography and sustainable planning and environmental and sustainability studies, one of the early students to study the latter as a major.

A QUICKLY GROWING MAJOR, AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH

The intense interest from this generation of students in climate change is represented by the fast growth of the Environmental and Sustainability Studies (ENS) major.

The program was approved by the Board of Trustees in February 2019 and already has 230 majors, said Mark Schaub, dean of the Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies, which houses the program.

Schaub said the program is the fastest-growing major at GVSU and is popular with Laker Generation Z students.

"These students are saying, 'I want to make a difference in dedicating my life to things that matter,'" Schaub said. "Concurrently, these students in ENS also know there are lots of jobs where employers hire what's called a sustainability manager or something of that sort. So along with the jobs for students they can also dedicate themselves to their personal and professional passion — our Reach Higher language — toward the things that are important. 

"And there is nothing more important than the future of humanity on this planet."

Students can find flexibility in the major to hone a focus, such as sustainable food systems or energy, he said.

The major is an interdisciplinary program that enhances education on the science of climate change by looking at issues related to the environment locally and globally, Schaub said. Faculty members from an array of disciplines are part of the program, including fields such as philosophy and political science.

Indeed, that interdisciplinary approach to climate change education is increasingly threaded throughout the GVSU curriculum, Schaub noted. For instance, he said, the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program explores the equity gap for women globally because of climate change, while the Meijer Honors College offers a number of course sequences that touch on environmental and sustainability issues.

HUMANITIES CAN HELP FRAME THE ISSUE AND THE SOLUTIONS

To understand the capacity for humans to respond to this crisis, turn to literature and history, said Brian Deyo, associate professor of English.

"This is part of what the humanities has to offer — stories, history, a knowledge of the kind of beings we are," Deyo said. "Not all that long ago, the Romans dealt with environmental problems like climate change, and also plagues, and they developed resilience strategies, some of which worked, some of which didn't. By thinking deeply and critically about history and literature, we are reminded of these survival skills and capacities."

In fact, the Romans are playing a key role in a course Deyo and Charles Ham, associate professor of Classics, will teach next semester. "The Romans and Us" is an introduction to the interdisciplinary environmental humanities, a movement among scholars and teachers to bridge work in humanities, the social sciences and the natural sciences to deepen awareness and understanding about environmental issues.

Deyo said he also found through his class on literature and the environment a way to empower students and help them see some light on these issues. He assigned small groups of students to study together and develop podcasts on a particular environmental problem by conducting interviews with faculty and experts, working across the disciplines at GVSU.

This collaborative, solutions-oriented approach led to deeper learning by students, and Deyo noted, "The doom and gloom narrative started to fall by the wayside and the 'We can do this' narrative started to emerge."

The power of the collective mindset is an important continuing thread about humanity through thousands of years that is illuminated through the study of literature and history, Deyo said. 

"We're wired to be successful as a species because we work together as collectives and as communities," he said. "We have a capacity for empathy, for fellow feeling, for compassion, to help out those in need — those are necessary survival skills that are hard-wired into our being, and a sound liberal arts education helps us to cultivate these essential capacities."

RESEARCH EVOLVING WITH THE TIMES

Research opportunities related to climate change abound for students as GVSU experts adjust their studies to the changing environment.

One example is at Muskegon's Annis Water Resources Institute, where the longtime core mission has been to provide educational programming in environmental science, primarily focusing on water as well as watershed environments. AWRI experts study a broad range of issues related to climate change, the impacts of the warming environments on aquatic ecosystems, and the effects of contaminants on these resources, said Mark Luttenton, interim director.

For his part, Luttenton is studying cold-water fish species such as brown trout and brook trout. His ongoing research at Higgins Lake in the north central Lower Peninsula involves studying the effects of deepening warmer surface water on the behavior of the temperature-sensitive lake trout.

Luttenton is also working with a student this summer to implant radio transmitters in trout in the North Branch Au Sable River in northern Michigan to track the fish as the waters warm.

He noted that historically environmental science education has been deeply rooted at Grand Valley, including an interdisciplinary environmental studies institute formed in GVSU's early days. Today's experts at GVSU continue to build on that foundation, he said. 

"What we can do in our positions as educators, is influence the next generation of students to realize if anything is going to change, we've got to do it through education," Luttenton said. "It'll be these students here now who will hopefully have the opportunity to reverse some of the impacts we're seeing."